City of Life and Death

John M. Glionna on a film of that title — Film on Nanjing massacre shows Japanese soldiers in new light. Chinese director Lu Chuan "has been criticized by some for not portraying Japanese soldiers as monsters" and "for suggesting that some were deeply conflicted over World War II atrocities."

The portrayal of "mass rapes, point-blank executions, public beheadings and victims buried alive" is said to be "brutal," but just "as disturbing to many filmgoers" is the portrayal of "Japanese soldiers as real people, with human flaws, some deeply conflicted over the murder and mayhem they inflict." The article reports that "a public uproar has ensued, with some viewers walking out, a few questioning the theater manager's patriotism.... Lu has even received death threats."

"Accustomed to Japanese soldiers being demonized as mindless murderers, many were unprepared for a more balanced rendering of human frailty," suggests Mr. Glionna. But some viewers seem were prepared. A local writer said, "The atrocities were incredibly brutal, but the Japanese were still human." A 21-year-old is quoted as saying, "Governments declare wars, ordinary people fight them."

The director "told reporters that many of the film's Japanese actors who had initially disagreed about the scope of the Imperial Army's crimes in Nanjing later found the filming difficult." He said, "They cried and asked to leave because the atrocities in the massacre, like raping and killing, drove them crazy." The director himself said of the filming, "My heart was in pain and darkness... It was like in hell."

The director's words bring to mind the late Iris Chang, who took her own life after researching The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II.

A trailer for City of Life and Death (2009) (notice the cathedral and what appears to be an allusion to the Fall of Baghdad in 2003):


War is truly disgusting.